THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING

for reals?

I do like it's street level presence - and yes I do like the hole because its so large its not as much a hole as an elevated room or park or something. But its really cheesy up top imho

I dunno. I sorta liked the era of the gentleman's agreement.

make tall....add spire...poke hole... this is 21st century skyscraper design

i love how CCTV has made putting holes in towers totally fashionable.

but yeah, i'm glad to see my hometown getting some more business.

i'm pessimistic about it getting built though. i love philly but wouldn't you be more likely to see something this tall going into new york, chicago, maybe even LA? i guess chicago has the calatrava condom going up which is about this ame height. but nothing in new york is close as far as i can tell.

We Chicagoans prefer the "Drildo" when referencing our little piece of Dubaitization. I think the Philly one is cool from the ground - but ya - its like a SOM condensed CCTV or something right?

drildo...that is too good...

I'm with Evil on this one, I like everything except the very peak of the building. Is it a green roof on top of the lower section? that seems like it would be a spectacular space.

There were holes before long before CCTV (which I'd argue is more than a hole). Gensler did a project in LA with a big hole and there were many others, but that comes to mind as a big hole project (very similar to his in scale, angle, etc.).

Looks boring, but it could be the horribly bad renderings and the cheesy website.

I can never understand why you would publicize bad renderings for a large/high dollar project like this.


The tooth pick top needs to be flicked off (as one of my early profs would have done, just walked up to the model and flick it off).

architectonica made the first post-modern hole. got featured in the title sequence of miami vice...

ah, yes, with the spiral staircase and obnoxious colors!

Hellooo? Holes in buildings allow dragons to fly through them.

i hadnt seen the street view, that actually has potential to be nice

the top though definitely needs work
i read somewhere (i forget unfortunately) that the top of this building looks like philly giving NYC the middle finger
the link at the top of the page with a view across the river shows that best

i wish i remember who said that, i thought it was funny


yeah i agree, that is a terrible website for something that is supposed to be such a high profile project
is it just my computer, or is there no second page or anything?

just why... is that microsofts hq circa 3.1?

omg - totally, postal!

Actually, it's a building in Hong Kong (a hotel, I think) that's along the water between downtown and Stanley Market. There's a myth about dragons coming down the side of the mountain and through the hole in the building. Anyways, it was under construction and thus covered when I was there *sigh*

oh, philly. (buries face in hands)

well it's not a total OMA ripoff: i spy a little corner-spire thingy a la Libeskind's WTC design...

You mean a total David Childs ripoff, who ripped off Libeskind...

ah, yes. the rip-off chain is long indeed, heh. fleetwood mac weren't kidding.


<img>http://www.gothamgazette.com/graphics/freedomtower_night1.jpg</img>

So its a rip off (Corb) of a rip off (Architectonica) of a rip off (OMA CCTV) of a rip off (libeskind WTC) or a rip off (Childs WTC)

i know everyone has something negative to say about it, but there are some good things it will do for the city also

FREE RAMOS
it actually will change a ton of things for the city for the better
just like the Comcast Tower has done

find something you've designed in your entire life, and then challenge anyone to say its not a rip off of something.

but there are degrees of which architects copy and adapt ideas... this one seems a fairly literal interpretation of libeskind. doesnt make it a bad thing, libeskinds tower didnt get built. if this one does, at least his idea will make it to fruition in one form or another....

anyway, this tower is a longshot. more power to them if they find a tennant.

Kinda boring. But also nice to see something new in Philly.

true; between this, the comcast and the cesar pelli thingy over @ 30th st., there seems to a be a lot going on, by Philly's standards at least.

But overall Philly's skyline is pretty impressive.